After Uvalde shooting, people consider an ‘Emmett Till moment’ to change gun debate

When Ollie Gordon scrolls through social media and her emails, the notifications always come in like clockwork.

The Google alerts she set up for her cousin Emmett Till’s name often surge after mass shootings or incidents of Black people like Trayvon Martin or George Floyd being killed. When she reads comments on Instagram or Facebook, the phrase “Emmett Till moment” is a constant as people turn to social media for solace and community in the aftermath of high-profile violence.

“Anything that happens, trust me, Emmett’s name comes up,” Gordon said.

“We have that moment every day, every time there’s a killing,” she said, adding that she is unsurprised when people make comparisons to Emmett.

Emmett was 14 when he was kidnapped, beaten, shot, lynched and dumped in a river while visiting family in Mississippi in the summer of 1955, after he was accused of whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman. The two white men, one of them Bryant’s husband, who killed Emmett were acquitted by an all-white jury.

Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett’s mother, invited Jet magazine to photograph her son’s mutilated face during